The highway connecting Hungary to Western Europe will have six lanes
According to magyaridok.hu, instead of the current 2×2 lanes, there will be 2×3 lanes for drivers on the section of M1 highway close to Budapest, for the construction of which the state investor is currently looking for an entrepreneur. The executor will have one and a half year to prepare the expansion and the renovation of the 45-kilometre section.
The public summons regarding the lane expansion and renovation of the M1 highway was published in the EU public purchase bulletin. However, it does not stand its ground because it only concerns the Budapest-Tatabánya-Újváros section, whereas previous talks concerned the Budapest-Győr section.
The tender is looking for entrepreneurs who are capable of doing the necessary geodesic, geotechnical condition assessment, revising the junctions and service areas and obtaining several permissions from the authorities.
The planning area is around 45 kilometres long. Applications must be entered until the 18th of May, and the winner entrepreneur will have one and a half year to execute the work. The choosing of the executor will follow this, and thereafter the construction can begin.
Based on estimations, the expanded expressway will not be finished before 2023.
Therefore, the use of the M1 highway, one of the most frequented Hungarian vehicular corridors, will be limited in the upcoming years. The surface of the road is so bad that it needs to be renovated continuously until the lane expansion starts.
Concerning that it is an international route and a path to West Europe, there is a huge turnover. While in 1995, 20 thousand vehicles passed the highway on a daily basis, this number has reached 80 or even 100 thousand in certain sections. Therefore, traffic jams are guaranteed as a result of the upcoming lane cut-offs.
Is there an alternative route to M1? Yes, main road N°1 which follows it parallelly for the most part, but only has 2×1 lanes and crosses several settlements.
Still, a big part of the traffic will be re-routed there.
There are braver ideas as well, such as opting for main road N°81 and the M7 highway to get to Győr from Budapest, however, it would take much longer.
Featured image: Daily News Hungary
Source: https://magyaridok.hu/